Glastonbury Drive 

Avalon was the name of the mythical island to which King Arthur was taken to heal after his final battle, and from which he never left. The identification of Avalon with the town of Glastonbury in Somerset, England, was apparently based on Celtic stories about the mythical "summer land" and an "isle of glass," inhabited by deceased heroes. Avalon was described as the "island of fruits or apples called Fortunate," where the soil could yield harvests without sowing, and where the inhabitants lived long lives. It was said that Glastonbury monks exploited the prestige of the Arthurian legends for the benefit of their own community. Glastonbury is a small market town in Somerset, on the main road from London. 

Aldermen Joseph H. Rodgers Jr. and Henry Palmer, and Thomas Orr, comprised the subcommittee that named the streets in the Avalon subdivision. They selected names from the historical and legendary associations with the Vale of Avalon, long-reputed as the resting place of the first known records of early Christianity in England.The name Glastonbury is thought to be derived from a word meaning “an oak.” With notes from Stanford Dingman

 The architectural style of these houses has been referred to by a number of names: “Simplified Cape Cod” (because they are a compact version of New England styles), “Strawberry Box” (because they resembled a common fruit container), and “Victory Houses” (celebrating the Allied victory in the Second World War).

The Stratford fairgrounds

Former entrance to the Stratford fairgrounds. Construction of the main entrance gates, off Churchill Circle, were started by a local mason to mark the 1941 centennial of the Stratford Agricultural Society. Delayed due to wartime restraints, they were completed in 1948. They were large fieldstone gates, with gate posts and a pylon, all with square-beaded mortar. The pylon included a flagpole and a bronze plaque presented by the Ontario Department of Agriculture to commemorate and honour the work and achievements of the local society. The fairgrounds were an important cultural feature for Stratford and the neighbouring agricultural community for 130 years. They were the site of the annual fair and numerous other events. Still in place, the entrance gates are the last evidence of the fairgrounds, which are now being repurposed with housing. The fair has been moved to the Rotary Complex, in the northwest corner of the city. Source: Stratford Beacon Herald

Four years later, on Aug. 2, 1954, Hodgins was back on the Stratford track, this time as a special guest, with Now, a horse jointly owned by Pinkney and Robert Hales of Chatham. By day's end, in front of another huge crowd, Hodgins and Now had themselves a two-heat win in the afternoon's junior free-for-all. Now was a 12-time winner that season. Source: SC Rewind: Years Ago - 1950s | Standardbred Canada 

* By the early 1960s, the days of horse racing in Stratford were over. Source: Dean Robinson, Reflections: A History of the Stratford Agricultural Society 1841-1991.

Here is a memory of David Pinkney from a Stratford fall fair enthusiast, going back to the 1940s: "Dave Pinkney had his horses stabled on the backstretch. I think the stable was just to the right of where the photographer was standing for this shot of the racetrack, taken on July 16, 1895 (see below). I believe the building to the left is too small to be the stable.  Brian Wendy Reis.  Photo: Stratford-Perth Archives

Other stunts might have included four-car bumper tag, wing ski jumps (drivers careening off a low ramp on two wheels at 50 miles per hour), a crash rollover contest, and the dive-bomber crash (off the ramp with an old car that plows into the top of a parked "catch"car) as seen in the top photo. Sometimes, for a finale, a driver piloted a truck on a dangerous ramp-to-ramp flight, hurtling more than 70 feet through the air. Source: Ellen Charendoff, Stratford-Perth Archives, Reflections, June 2017. 

For the most part, the ag society has been a proving ground for rural-urban harmony. It continues to rely on volunteers and that may be one of the key reasons for its endurance. 

It has been able to stay in tune with the changing face of agricultural Ontario. However, a technological shift has quickened the pace and the future is no longer straight-forward.  Source: Dean Robinson, Reflections: A History of the Stratford Agricultural Society 1841-1991. 

Early Agricultural Society History. The formation of this agricultural society included four prominent pioneers whose names are familiar to Stratford's early history. On Nov. 22, 1841, Alex McDonald, William Jackson, William Smith and John James Edmonstoune Linton (see Linton Avenue) met at the Shakespeare Inn in Stratford, Ont., to discuss information from the Oxford Agricultural Society's rules, and to review the 1837 act of the provincial parliament of Upper Canada governing the formation of agricultural societies. McDonald was the Canada Company's local agent, Jackson an Englishman who had lived some of his formative years in Jamaica, and Smith, a man embarking on a life of prominence in the history of Stratford and Perth County. It was Linton, who made the most impact on his adopted home as a teacher, lawyer, writer, abolitionist and political organizer. He was intelligent, well-educated, outspoken and iron-willed. The meeting of this quartet was 13 years before their settlement was granted village status and 15 years before it was served by a railway.

They wrote to influential farmers in the district, proclaiming their conviction that "nothing would contribute more to the advantage of the settlement than the formation of an agricultural society." They invited them to a meeting at the Shakespeare Inn on Nov. 27, 1841, for the purpose of establishing such a society. They met again in December and set the rules rules and regulations. They also signed up 67 neighbours as members that first year, and charged each 15 shillings to join thge society.  William Jackson was installed as the first president, and John Linton as secretary. Linton was not a farmer but he held that position for nine years.

According to the Stratford Agricultural Society’s history, “the first exhibition was held on Friday, Oct. 14, 1842, amid primitive surroundings and was voted a splendid success. It was held at the Shakespeare Inn," run by the Sargints. (see Sargint Street). Exhibits were placed inside the hotel and livestock pens were built on the street outside, in an area that came to be known as "Shakespeare Place." The first classes for prize money included “cattle, sheep, pigs and best yoke of oxen.” Inside prize money was given for “solid of butter, homemade cheese, 10 yards of homemade cloth, wool to be grown and spun by exhibitor, woollen mitts, blankets, hooked rugs, potatoes, pumpkins, wheat and homemade farm implements.”

When the Shakespeare Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1849, the SAS moved its headquarters across the street to the Union Hotel, which was farther east, near the intersection of Waterloo Street, and later to the Farmers' Hotel at the corner of Huron and Mornington streets, and finally to land where the Stratford Public Library now stands. All this between 1841 and 1858 when a permanent site was secured.

PLowing Match History. In 1846, one other noteworthy event took place when the first plowing match was held on the farm of James Rankin. That tradition continued and by 1930, Perth County hosted their first International Plowing Match and drew about 100.0000 people over three days. In 1972, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was on hand to open the official match.  

Permanent fall fair locations: The first permanent Stratford fairgrounds were said to be located in 1858 on the triangle bounded by Downie, St. Patrick and George streets, land owned by Donald McDonald. It was at that location that grounds were fenced and fairgoers were charged admission to help defray the society's expenses. 

The next location fronted Albert, Front and Brunswick streets, with the racetrack on a plot of land bordered by Front, Brunswick, Douro and Queen streets. After several years, it was moved to Huron Street, near Forman Avenue, and then to Ontario Street, where Avalon Fabrics and Kroehler Field were later located. In 1911, several sites were considered and, in 1913, the first permanent exhibition building was erected and named the Crystal Palace at the old fairgrounds at the end of Britannia Street and Glastonbury Drive, at Churchill Circle as it was then known. 

A snapshot of the fair in 1913: This Crystal Palace, at the old fairgrounds, was built by Charles Neilson and W. R. Bradshaw for close to $15,000. A crystal palace building and a racetrack had been part of the fairgrounds since 1878. This palace had been a two-storey structure and cost $2,240. The second Crystal Palace (and its annex added in 1921) would was eventually destroyed by fire in May 1928. It had been insured for $8,500. Architect James Russell (see Shrewsbury Street) designed a stucco replacement that was built by John L. Youngs on the same site in time for the fair that year. 

In 1913, architect Thomas Hepburn (see Ontario Street) laid out the grounds and racetrack on the  old fairgrounds for  what was then called the new Stratford Industrial and Agricultural Park. Mayor Chalmers M. Greenwood proposed a bylaw for an additional $10,000 to complete other fair buildings. The new permanent structures were expensive, but so were fees for the large tents the Society annually rented out for the display of exhibits. The Stratford Bridge and Iron Works (see Erie Street) was unable to complete its building of a 600-seat grandstand in time for the fair, but still, there was harness racing in the afternoon as well as a five-mile motorcycle race. For the youngsters, only boys at that time, there was a novelty race in which  each entrant had to harness a horse, walk it and its cart a quarter mile, and then pace or trot the horse home.

Not all the barns and shed to house livestock were completed for that first year, 1913, at the  old fairgrounds, but there was a large merry-go-round, refreshment booths and music by the Grand Trunk Railway employees band. About 1,000 people attended the fair at night, which established a nocturnal attendance record.  

By 1915, directors of the fair recognized the contribution of women to the Society by naming six female patronesses. The next year, the same women were referred to as directors. By 1924, the Junior Farmers' Association was formed, and by 1936 the female counterparts  of the junior farmers' clubs were junior institutes. It wasn't until 1947, that the two groups were united under the name Junior Farmers. 

The last year for the fair at the old fairgrounds was 2011. Its current location is the Agriplex and Rotary Complex on McCarthy Road. The agricultural society created in Stratford was initially a county Organization, but since at least 1941, it has been known as the Stratford Agricultural Society. 

Sources: Ellen Thomas, Reflections, Perth-County Archives, June 2020. and Dean Robinson's, Reflections: A History of the Stratford Agricultural Society 1841-1991.